Footlight Players Perform at Indiana Library February 23

Footlight Players, a service project of the IUP Department of Theater and Dance and the College of Fine Arts, brings a new family play to life on Saturday, February 23, 2013, at the Indiana Free Library and Indiana Theater on Philadelphia Street.

Written by Erin Hug and directed by Nick Hrutkay, Louder Than Words is a laugh-out-loud comedy telling the story of a kingdom where books have been banned and the world’s greatest authors from across time have been exiled to a far-away, barren land. When a young boy receives an unexpected visit from Mark Twain, J.K. Rowling, Lewis Carroll, and the other banished authors, he rallies up the children in his neighborhood to revolt against the book-banning King and fight for their right to read stories.

Louder Than Words features six Footlight youth: Parker Koons, Jamie Latson, Owen Morris, Bastian Webber, Bricelyn Webber, and Emma Zuzek. The cast is also rounded out with IUP Theater and Communications Media majors providing a unique perspective for the younger actors to learn from and act alongside more seasoned performers.

Louder Than Words is the second theater-for-youth tour produced this season by Footlight Players. Last November, A Midsummer Night’s Dream toured to schools in the region, bringing a fresh interpretation of the Shakespeare classic to over 1,500 students. Louder Than Words is now following suit by partnering with the Indiana Free Library to bring awareness to the community about the benefits of reading in our society through the eyes of children and some of time’s most beloved writers.

Louder Than Words has two performances on Saturday, February 23. The first is at 11:00 a.m. in the Indiana Free Library Community Room, and the second is at 7:00 p.m. in the Indiana Theater, both on Philadelphia Street. Tickets are available at the door: $10 for adults and $5 for kids 12 and under.

Footlight Players is supported by the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), the regional arts funding partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a stage agency. State government funding comes through an annual appropriation by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency. PPA is administered in this region by the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance.